


in this moment (time seemed to have stopped)

by byungari



Category: Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, IT analyst!woojin, M/M, and ioi members, and produce 101 boys, art teacher!jihoon, like in the beginning, math teacher!seongwoo, mentions of other wanna one members - Freeform, rated mature bc there's like 3 sentences of smut lmao, slight angst, then its slightly slowburn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-13
Updated: 2018-06-13
Packaged: 2019-05-21 18:12:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14920376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/byungari/pseuds/byungari
Summary: jihoon and woojin break up, and jihoon isn't sure how to move on with his life.enter: ong seongwoo





	in this moment (time seemed to have stopped)

**Author's Note:**

> this was,, supposed to be purely 2park angst but??????????? dont ask me what happened and how it turned into an ongwink fic bc I Don't Know
> 
> enjoy!!

jihoon watches woojin leave with his luggage and a part of jihoon’s heart with him. it was inevitable, jihoon thinks bitterly, as he tries to pick up the broken pieces woojin leaves behind. it’s for the best, he tries to tell himself as he tries to move on with his life.

the fights, the arguments, the inability to communicate what they wanted—it all built up and came toppling down in the worst way possible.

they try to make it work; they really do. but it’s just so hard to try to get back on their old dynamic. the silence between them that used to be comfortable is now stifling. in the past it seemed like they’d never run out of things to talk about but now the most they can do is make awkward small talk about their day and the weather.

the warmth jihoon used to feel when woojin slept next to him now only serves as a reminder of what could have been forever but ended in up in flames that died out and left behind only a handful of ashes.

the door clicks shut and woojin leaves jihoon for good. they’ve broken up before—multiple times, even. but this time, jihoon knows woojin isn’t coming back. this time, jihoon knows they’re done for good. this time, jihoon knows that he’s lost not only his lover, but his best friend too.

he stares at the closed door silently, praying for woojin to turn around and come back; praying for woojin to come back to him and pull him into a hug like he always does; praying for woojin to come back so that jihoon can tell him that he’s sorry, that he’ll try harder.

but none of this happens, and jihoon knows that woojin is gone for good.

he closes his eyes and exhales as the tears escape and run down his face. woojin isn’t coming back. woojin isn’t going to be here to wipe away his tears anymore. jihoon will never be able to hear woojin screaming bloody murder because of a tiny bug. jihoon will never be able to feel the weight of woojin’s arms around him at night when they go to sleep.

jihoon goes to sleep that night with tears staining his pillow as he stares at the empty space next to him.

***

moving on is hard when woojin’s been so integrated in jihoon’s everyday life. every little thing reminds jihoon of woojin. woojin’s favorite mug that sits there unused in the cupboard; woojin’s favorite cereal that jihoon hates sitting on the counter, waiting to be thrown away; the left over takeout boxes in the refrigerator woojin forgot to throw away; the unscented laundry detergent and fabric softener that sits in the closet.

but life goes on. it doesn’t stop to give jihoon time to grieve; instead, it seems to move faster. jihoon is kept busy with grading and handing out assignments—his art classes aren’t going to teach themselves, after all.

the season is transitioning from the hot, stifling summer to the cool, refreshing autumn when jihoon hears about it.

he feels the ugly, jealous feelings crawling up his throat when he hears the news about woojin and his new boyfriend, hyungseob—a colleague from woojin’s work place. it’s only been a few months since their break up, but it seems like woojin had no problems moving on.

jihoon lets out a sardonic laugh and wonders if it was _that_ easy for woojin to throw away the years of memories and love they shared—maybe he really hadn’t meant anything to the male at all. he feels the anger, the bitterness, the regret building up inside of him. he’s spent the last few months moping around and cutting off contact with his friends because he couldn’t deal with the fact that woojin was gone.

but now? he feels stupid for letting the break up consume his life.

he contacts donghan that weekend and asks if he’s free to go out for dinner drinks. donghan is surprised but agrees and they set up a time and place to meet.

“look what the cat dragged in,” donghan drawls with a smile when jihoon walks into the restaurant. haknyeon and hyunmin are there too, and jihoon feels his lips quirk up in a genuine smile for the first time in months.

“hey.” jihoon gives them a smile and sits down. he hasn’t realized how much he’s missed his friends. “how are you guys?”

“same old, same old,” haknyeon sighs. “my boss is a real piece of work, that one.”

“is it the same boss who made you run to the other side of town just so you could get him a specific brand of coffee?” hyunmin asks with a raised eyebrow.

“the very one.”

the three of them wince. fussy bosses were the worst.

“how about you, jihoon?” donghan turns to jihoon after they place their orders. “any students you want to complain about?”

jihoon knows his friends want to ask him if he’s okay, if he’s alright with the news about woojin moving on, but he appreciates them for staying silent. he doesn’t know if he can respond to those questions yet. “it’s alright. i have this one student who keeps trying to sneak food into the studio even though i keep telling him it’s a safety hazard.”

jihoon shakes his head while his friends laugh. “wow, sounds like someone i knew in high school,” hyunmin gives jihoon a mirthful look. “someone who kept trying to justify eating chicken tenders in the middle of math class.”

“hey,” jihoon protests and hyunmin bursts out into laughter. “i was hungry.”

“this kid probably is too,” haknyeon points out with a grin.

jihoon makes a face. “well, yeah, but the difference is that my hands weren’t covered in toxic paint in math class, was it?”

“true, true,” donghan chuckles. their food arrives and the four of them quiet down to eat their food with the occasional question and small talk here and there. jihoon can’t help the amused smile that makes its way onto his face at how little they’ve changed since their high school years. haknyeon still spills little bits of food here and there while donghan shoves everything into his mouth to resemble a chipmunk. hyunmin eats calmly and quietly while jihoon himself focuses on his food and only his food.

once they finish their dinner, they decide to stay put at the restaurant and order soju instead of heading to the bar like they had originally planned.

the four of them continue to catch up while drinking. it’s well past midnight when they decide to call it a night. haknyeon is too drunk to get home alone so hyunmin reluctantly volunteers to take him home since they live close to each other.

“do you need a ride?” donghan is the only one who hasn’t touched a drop of alcohol due to the fact that he drove there. jihoon thinks for a bit before nodding.

“that’d be nice, thanks.”

“of course,” donghan says. “anything for you, jihoon.”

jihoon feels a wave of fondness wash over him at donghan’s words. donghan is someone jihoon can trust with his life and trust him not to fuck jihoon over like so many people have.

like woojin had.

“thanks, donghan.” the smile jihoon gives donghan is genuine. “i appreciate it.”

donghan smiles at jihoon and leads him to his car. the drive back to jihoon’s apartment is, to jihoon’s relief, silent with the radio playing pop music in the background. a comfortable air of silence hangs over them and jihoon finds himself enjoying donghan’s presence.

he says goodbye and the two promises to meet up for lunch soon. jihoon sighs as he waits for the elevator to take him up to his floor. every time he goes home, he finds himself dreading going back to an empty apartment filled with memories more and more. jihoon wonders if it’s time to move but quickly shakes away that thought. it had taken a while to find an apartment close enough to his workplace that he could walk, and he knows that he won’t be able to find an apartment with an affordable rent unless he gets really, _really_ lucky.

which, knowing jihoon’s track record, won’t happen.

walking into his apartment, jihoon looks around and feels his heart break all over again at the sight of the little things woojin left behind, deeming them unimportant to take with him when he left.

jihoon goes to sleep that night with the resolve to throw everything woojin left behind out or donate them to charity. he wakes up the next morning hesitant but follows through with the resolve.

he spends almost the entire day cleaning up the apartment, airing out his bedsheets, and throwing every knickknack that reminds him of woojin into a box and shoving them deep into the closet where he knows he’ll never look. he'd throw them out later on trash day.

the clothes woojin left behind are thrown into a separate box with the intention of donating them to a clothing drive his school is going to have soon. jihoon hesitates when the next article of clothing in the pile is the hoodie he stole from woojin years ago. he’s forgotten that he had this and exhales as he adds it to the box along with a piece of his heart.

he hopes that whoever ends up with these clothes are happy, and that it helps them out in some way or another.

***

jihoon knows he’s falling into a downward spiral of self-pity and self-deprecation. haknyeon notices, hyunmin notices—donghan _definitely_ notices.

it’s not healthy, he knows, but he can’t help but hope that maybe woojin will realize that it’s hard without jihoon by his side. he knows it’s not fair to hyungseob (who jihoon is sure is a lovely person; woojin only deserves the best after all) for him to hope that maybe woojin will come back to him and they’ll pick up the pieces together.

his friends try to help; they really do. sometimes jihoon lets them, sometimes he shuts them out. it’s a never-ending cycle of jihoon starting to get used to woojin not being by his side and moving on, only to trip and fall back into square one all over again.

when it starts affecting his work, however, jihoon forces himself to compartmentalize.

woojin’s clearly moved on and not coming back, and there’s no point in jihoon dwelling in the past, hoping for another chance.

he and woojin were over for good, and no matter how much jihoon hopes, there’s no going back.

***

“did you hear?” jaehwan, the orchestra teacher, peeks over from atop the divider that separates their desks. “we’re finally getting a new math teacher for the third years.”

jihoon raises an eyebrow at this. “has anyone told sejeong-ssaem? i was sure she was going to rip her hair out from having to deal with both the second and third years.”

“yeah, she’s the one who told us the news this morning before you got here,” jaehwan snickers. “you should’ve seen her. i’ve never seen her so happy about something other than free food and vacation before.”

jihoon laughs. “i’m glad they finally found someone. it must be stressful having to teach two different years for a core subject.”

jaehwan shudders. “i can’t imagine ever teaching a core subject, especially math.”

“same,” jihoon shakes his head. “they’re brave people.”

“amen,” jaehwan mumbles. he sits back down and gets ready for the day, leaving jihoon to do the same. as jihoon gets his lesson plans in order and organized, he can’t help but wonder who the new teacher is. not many people are willing to teach math for third years, after all, with the stress of college exams looming over them on top of everything else.

the thoughts of the new math teacher quickly leave his mind when jihoon is rushing to get to his classroom to prepare for his first class of the day. they don’t resurface again until jaehwan invites him out to lunch with another fellow teacher sohye, who teaches literature, to get to know the new teacher better.

“are you two friends already?” jihoon asks with a raised eyebrow when jaehwan makes the proposition.

“what can i say?” jaehwan grins. “i’m friendly.”

“right.” jihoon is skeptical but drops it. “i would love to, but i have lunch duty today. nayoung-ssaem asked me to cover for her because one of her students has an emergency.”

“pity,” jaehwan says. “alright. guess you can meet him some other time, then.”

“yeah,” jihoon agrees. he’d probably meet the new teacher soon enough anyways, since they had a staff meeting coming up that day after school. he waves goodbye to jaehwan and heads to the cafeteria for lunch duty. the cafeteria is loud and rowdy, which is expected, but it does nothing to distract jihoon’s from his thoughts.

he finds himself thinking of woojin again; wondering if he’s eating all his meals, if he’s still dating hyungseob. he wonders if woojin is happy, if he thinks of jihoon at all, or if he’s already erased everything about jihoon from his mind.

it’s been a little over six months since they broke up and last saw each other, and jihoon is slowly but surely starting to move on completely. he only thinks about woojin occasionally when he sees something that reminds him of the male, but his time these days is mostly taken up by his job and volunteer work.

when the bell rings, indicating the end of lunch, jihoon hurries back to the staffroom to grab what he needs for his next class.

“ah, you just missed him.” jaehwan frowns when jihoon walks in. “that new math teacher. he just left.”

“oh.” jihoon blinks. “too bad. maybe i’ll see him later.”

jaehwan hums as he gathers his lesson plans for his afternoon classes. “funny how the two of you keep missing each other, huh.”

jihoon shrugs. “guess we’re on opposite schedules. i’ll see you later at the meeting.”

jaehwan holds up his hand in acknowledgement and jihoon leaves the staffroom, rushing to the fine arts hall.

***

jihoon doesn’t end up meeting the new math teacher until later. the staff meeting that’s been scheduled was postponed due to a family emergency the principal had, and jihoon always seems to just miss meeting the new teacher by a hair, as he always either leaves when jihoon gets there or comes after jihoon leaves.

he doesn’t think too much of it, figuring he’d probably meet the teacher eventually. they’re in completely different departments, too, meaning jihoon won’t have many chances to get to know the new teacher.

they meet in the most awkward and cliché way possible, however, almost a week later. jihoon is on his way to the art room with his arms full of new art supplies that had finally come in. he can’t really see where he’s going, and so it’s not surprising when he bumps into someone and the boxes go tumbling to the ground.

“shit,” jihoon curses quietly. “i’m so sorry. are you okay?”

“i’m fine,” the man stands up and dusts himself off. he offers jihoon a grin and holds out a hand for jihoon to take and helps him stand back up. “are you okay?”

“yes,” jihoon nods. “sorry about that. are you the new math teacher?”

“i am,” the man confirms with a grin. “and you are?”

“park jihoon.” jihoon holds a hand for the man to shake. “i’m the art teacher.”

“ah,” the man makes a noise of recognition. he takes jihoon’s hand and shakes it firmly. “the elusive art teacher jaehwan-ssaem kept telling me about. i was wondering when we would finally meet.” he muses. “my name is ong seongwoo, and i’m the new, unfortunate math teacher for the third years.”

jihoon cracks a grin at his introduction. unfortunate is one way to describe it, but he’s more interested in the last name. “ong?”

“uncommon, i know,” seongwoo says. he helps jihoon pick up the boxes and carry them to the art room, much to jihoon’s relief and gratitude. “i get that a lot.”

“i can imagine,” jihoon remarks. he’s never had that problem, of course, seeing how his own last name is one of the most common one there is. “can’t say i relate.”

seongwoo laughs. “yeah, i didn’t think you would seeing how your last name is park.”

jihoon chuckles. seems like the new math teacher shared his sense of humor. “how do you like the school so far?”

seongwoo hums. “it’s nice. definitely different from where i was before. i taught at a high school down in busan before moving up to seoul. it was the countryside though, so no, i didn’t see much of the beach at all.”

busan. woojin’s hometown. jihoon swallows and forces himself to smile. “i see.” if seongwoo notices how forced jihoon’s smile looks, he doesn’t comment, and so jihoon continues. “yeah, i can imagine how different it is, then. what made you apply here of all schools?”

“the job opening,” seongwoo shrugs noncommittally. “and the principal seemed, for a lack of better word, a little desperate when i came in for the interview. i was practically hired on the spot.”

jihoon snorts. yeah, principal kwon had been pulling her hair out while looking for someone to replace their previous math teacher who retired early to take care of her kids.

they arrive at the art room and jihoon shows seongwoo where to set the boxes down. “thanks for helping me. i don’t know if i would’ve made it all the way here without falling again.”

“anytime.” the grin seongwoo gives him is blinding and jihoon’s heart skips a beat in surprise. “it was nice to finally meet you, mr. park.”

“call me jihoon,” jihoon waves his hand. “we’ll be working together, after all. everyone here is on a first-name basis with each other.”

“okay then, jihoon-ssaem.” the way seongwoo says his name makes jihoon’s stomach churn. “i’ll see you around then.”

“bye mr. ong.” jihoon smiles politely and ignores the feelings inside his chest.

“just seongwoo is fine,” seongwoo turns back with another grin before leaving. jihoon releases the breath he’s been holding in and leans onto the table for support.

his brain helpfully supplies him with information that the last time he felt this way was with woojin, and jihoon isn’t sure what to make of this knowledge.

***

jihoon decides that the new math teacher, ong seongwoo, is dangerous and does his best to avoid the other teacher as much as he can. he greets seongwoo when they see each other, of course, but not more than that.

the fact that they’re in different departments helps. jihoon tends to gravitate towards the other fine arts teachers such as jaehwan, minhyun, chaeyeon, and yeonjung. he does socialize with the other teachers, of course, but not as much as he does with the fine arts teachers simply due to the fact that their deadlines are similar to each other’s.

“are you free for lunch today?” chaeyeon lightly taps jihoon’s desk twice with her fist. “the other fine arts teachers are thinking of trying that new chinese restaurant that opened down the street. you don’t have lunch duty this week, do you?”

jihoon shakes his head. “no, i don’t. i’ll join you guys. are we getting it delivered?”

“yeah,” chaeyeon nods. “here’s the to-go menu. let jaehwan-ssaem know what you want before third period and he’s going to order it during fourth, i think.”

“alright, thanks.” jihoon takes the menu chaeyeon gives him. “see you at lunch, i guess.”

“good luck with that first year—seonho, was it?” chaeyeon smirks a little and jihoon sighs. seonho is notorious amongst the teachers for always sneaking food in class, and he drove not only jihoon mad, but jaehwan as well.

the chinese restaurant turns out to be a bust as the food is less than satisfying. jihoon only eats half of the black bean noodle he ordered and throws the rest away with a shake of his head. jaehwan doesn’t even get halfway through his food and opts to get something from the _maejeom_ instead.

“well, that was disappointing.” yeonjung has an unhappy expression on her face. “time to warn my students not to go there.”

chaeyeon chuckles. “same here. they asked me to give a review of the place.”

“i want my money back.” jaehwan scowls and minhyun pats him on the back.

“i’ll take you to a better chinese restaurant for dinner,” he says and jaehwan beams. jihoon snorts quietly and wonders when jaehwan will finally ask the band teacher out. or maybe it’ll be the other way around. he exchanges looks with chaeyeon and yeonjung and sees that he’s not alone in thinking this.

“fifty-thousand won that minhyun-ssaem makes the first move,” yeonjung whispers in a low voice to him and chaeyeon.

“no way.” chaeyeon shakes her head. “jaehwan-ssaem’s going to make the first move for sure.”

“what do you think, jihoon-ssaem?” the two teachers turn to jihoon for his opinion.

jihoon makes a face. “i don’t care who makes the first move as long as it happens soon.”

“ugh, if only,” yeonjung rolls her eyes and jihoon silently agrees.

***

jihoon spends his saturdays volunteering at a local recreation center teaching art. he’s been doing this for the past couple months after woojin left; the reason jihoon started volunteering is selfish but the reason he stayed is because he finds himself genuinely connecting with and enjoying the presence of the kids he works with.

he starts volunteering at the rec center in an effort to get away from his apartment where seeing even the walls bring him pain. he starts volunteering in hopes that it’ll distract him and keep him busy enough on the weekends to keep himself from thinking about woojin.

and it works. the kids at the rec center keep jihoon busy and on his toes at all times, but jihoon loves it. the kids are wonderful and jihoon seriously considers quitting his job at the high school and finding another job at an elementary school.

or maybe he can get away from seoul and go down somewhere quiet, he thinks. it’d be nice to get away from all the hustle and bustle the city has to offer; when jihoon was younger he loved it, but now? he thinks a change of pace might be nice, despite the fact that everyone knows jihoon is a city man through and through.

“hello, jihoon-ssi,” kenta, a worker at the rec center, greets him with a smile when jihoon walks in. “how was your week?”

“it was… good,” jihoon grimaces. “i hate exam season.”

kenta clicks his tongue in sympathy. “i remember hating it as a student; i can’t imagine how bad it is to have to go through it again as a teacher.”

“yeah,” jihoon sighs. “what about you, kenta-ssi? how was your week?”

“it was great! we got some new sign-ups who are starting next month,” kenta tells jihoon as the two of them make their way towards the mess hall where most of the kids are still eating breakfast. “oh, we got a new volunteer, too. he moved here recently, but i can’t remember where he was before.”

“oh?” jihoon is interested. not many people wanted to spend their weekends volunteering to, essentially, babysit 20 or so kids. “do you know his name?”

“i’m afraid not.” kenta shakes his head. “yongguk was the one who interviewed him. i only received the news today myself.”

jihoon hums. there’s a lot of new people popping up in jihoon’s life lately; he’s not sure if it’s something he’s glad about or something he should be wary of. seongwoo entering his life has definitely made him wary, whereas meeting sohye’s significant other definitely leans towards the better side.

(meeting yoojung had been a weird, awkward incident that he and jaehwan agreed to never talk about it because it had been embarrassing for both parties involved; he made sure to ask sohye to send the message to yoojung that he and jaehwan were sorry for spilling their drinks all over her. sohye was not amused.)

“have a lot planned for the kids today?” kenta asks as he helps jihoon set up his “station” for the day. it’s more of a table in the corner of the play room; anyone who wants to draw is welcomed to come draw and paint.

“just the same as usual,” jihoon laughs quietly. “i did bring some oil pastel this time, though, so we’ll see how that goes.”

“why would you do that,” kenta groans. “the mess, jihoon-ssi. the mess!”

jihoon laughs louder this time. “i apologize in advance. the kids asked me to! how could i say no to those hopeful faces?”

kenta mumbles unhappily but agrees with jihoon. the kids are cute and devious—a dangerous combination. they know how to use their charms and adorable disposition to get what they want, within reason, from the volunteers and workers at the rec center.

jihoon especially dotes on the kids who show interest in art. kenta and yongguk call it bias, jihoon calls it a connection.

he finishes setting up his table quickly with kenta’s help and waits for the kids to start trickling in. he sees the some of the other volunteers, doyeon and mina, getting ready as well. kenta leaves him to go start rounding up the kids and clean up the mess hall and jihoon waves goodbye. he sighs, stretching before he grabs a piece of paper and a pink crayon to doodle with while he waits.

“jihoon-ssaem?”

jihoon looks up from his doodles in surprise, and in front of him is the man he’s been trying to avoid for the past month. seongwoo is staring at him in surprise while jihoon gapes at him in shock. what is he doing here?

“i’m the new volunteer here,” seongwoo says slowly. jihoon covers his mouth when he realizes he said that out loud and seongwoo doesn’t bother hiding his amusement. “what about you?”

“i volunteer too,” jihoon tells him, albeit reluctantly. he gestures to the art supplies sitting in front of him. “i’m in charge of arts and craft, as you can see.”

“i can,” seongwoo grins at him. he takes a seat in front of jihoon and reaches for a piece of paper. “am i allowed to join too?”

jihoon glances at the door; the kids aren’t here yet, so it should be okay, right? “sure, but the kids are going to be here soon.”

“it’s okay.” seongwoo grins. “i’ll be quick. also, they didn’t really tell me what to do so i’m a little lost anyways.”

“it’s nothing hard,” jihoon reassures him. “just hang out with the kids, play with them, make sure no one gets hurt.”

seongwoo hums. “am i allowed to hang out here with you, then? art used to be one of my best subjects when i was in school, you know.”

jihoon raises an eyebrow at this. “well, i guess it should be okay then. if they need any extra help though, you’re going. i don’t do sports.”

“deal.” seongwoo grins at him widely and starts drawing. jihoon studies him for a bit before looking back down at his own doodles. the kids start trickling in and jihoon greets the ones who come to his table. they stare at seongwoo curiously, who waves at them with a friendly grin and introduces himself to each one who asks for his name.

“hong seongwoo?” one of the boys scrunch up his nose in confusion.

“ _ong_ seongwoo,” seongwoo corrects him. “not hong, ong. not gong, ong. ong seongwoo.”

“you’re weird.” the boy concludes, and jihoon huffs out a laugh. seongwoo shoots him a betrayed look, which jihoon returns with a dazzling smile of his own.

the morning goes by quickly with seongwoo there to help him keep the kids entertained. before he knows it, kenta and yongguk are calling the kids to the mess hall for lunch, and jihoon finds himself alone with seongwoo in a blink of an eye.

“ah, youth,” seongwoo muses as he watches the kids scramble towards the mess hall. “so much energy. so full of life.”

“can’t relate, old man?” the quip escapes jihoon’s lips before he can stop himself. he freezes in shock and his eyes widen. he knows he and seongwoo aren’t close enough for the other man to understand jihoon’s humor. this is proven when seongwoo looks shocked at jihoon’s comment, his eyebrows shooting up in surprise.

“well,” seongwoo says after a beat of silence. his lips twitch and curl up in a surprised smile. “who knew you had such a mouth on you, you brat?”

to say jihoon is shocked would be an understatement. it’s clear that seongwoo is amused and waiting for jihoon’s next retort.

“i was just saying.” jihoon’s lips curl up in a smile, mirroring seongwoo’s. “i heard from jaehwan hyung that you’re four years older than me. what’s it like? do you have pains in your joints?”

seongwoo laughs loudly and it echoes in the now-empty play room. “asking jaehwan-ssaem about me behind my back, huh? and here i thought you were trying so hard to avoid getting to know me.”

jihoon bit his lips. so seongwoo had noticed; it was probably obvious, jihoon thinks. even jaehwan had caught on and asked jihoon about it the other day. “sorry about that.”

“it’s okay.” seongwoo waves it away good-naturedly. “jaehwan-ssaem told me you could be a little shy. anyways, it’s lunchtime, right? do we eat with the kids or what?”

“you can eat with the kids or go eat and come back. it’s up to you,” jihoon shrugs. “after lunch they break off into age-groups and have study hall for two hours. we don’t need to be here for that unless you want to help.”

seongwoo hums and stares up at the ceiling in thought. “okay, then,” he says after a few seconds pass. “have lunch with me?”

jihoon raises an eyebrow at that but agrees.

“sure.”

***

jihoon reluctantly admits to himself that he jumped to conclusions when it came to seongwoo. after grabbing lunch and volunteering together with the older teacher, jihoon can see that the two of them get along well. seongwoo’s wit compliments his own sarcasm, and jihoon finds himself enjoying the banter the two of them share whenever they run into each other at school and volunteer at the rec center.

“so, you’re done avoiding him then?” jaehwan asks as he throws a tennis ball up and catches it, repeating the process until he fails in catching it and it lands on minhyun’s desk. he pouts when minhyun refuses to give it back and turns to give jihoon his full, undivided attention. “i was wondering how long it would take for seongwoo-ssaem to break down your iron defenses.”

“what iron defenses?” jihoon mutters unhappily as he tries to finish typing up the progress report for mid-semester. “are you done with your progress reports?”

jaehwan gives him a look that screams ‘are you joking?’ “i haven’t even started.”

“you know they’re due tomorrow, right?” jihoon asks flatly.

“i work best under pressure,” jaehwan flips his hands dismissively. “i’ll get them done, don’t worry.”

“you better.” minhyun interrupts them and hits jaehwan on the head lightly with his folder. “principal kwon will have your head if it’s late.”

“i know, i know.” jaehwan pouts and jihoon makes a mildly disgusted face. “i’ll get them done.”

“good, good. i’m off to lunch duty now. have a good lunch, guys.” minhyun gives jihoon a friendly smile, which jihoon returns, before leaving.

“so,” jihoon says when minhyun is out of sight. “when are you going to ask him out?”

jaehwan shoots him a look. “i’ll ask him out when you finally let seonho eat in class so that he doesn’t eat in mine.”

“so, never? that’s a bit much even for you, don’t you think, jaehwan hyung?”

“i hate you.”

***

getting lunch with seongwoo on saturdays becomes a normal routine, and the realization hits jihoon when seongwoo goes up to the counter to order his and jihoon’s drinks. since when does seongwoo know his drink order by heart?

“i don’t understand how you can drink that,” jihoon says when seongwoo returns with their drinks in hand. jihoon takes his drink—iced vanilla latte with two extra pumps of vanilla—and eyes seongwoo’s iced americano in distaste. “isn’t it bitter?”

“it’s an acquired taste.” seongwoo smirks as he sips on his drink. “we should try that new italian place down the street next week. some food blog recommended it.”

jihoon raises an eyebrow. “are we really close enough to be going on a food tour together?” he’s joking, of course, and he knows that seongwoo knows too.

“i’m hurt, jihoon-ssaem.” seongwoo gives him an exaggerated pout. “i thought we were on our way to becoming friends!”

jihoon snorts and seongwoo’s eyes turn into crescents when he smiles. jihoon tries to ignore the way his heart skips a beat by taking another sip of his latte. “the donkatsu place today wasn’t bad. i think that’s the best one i’ve had in a while.”

“yeah, i agree.” seongwoo nods. “i was pretty surprised. their side dishes are pretty good, too. reminds me of my mom’s cooking.”

jihoon hums in agreement and the two of them fall into silence. it’s not awkward, unlike the first few times they got lunch together; on the contrary, it’s a comfortable silence that jihoon often shares with his close friends when they’re deep in thought, or just basking in each other’s company.

“what are your plans for tomorrow?” seongwoo’s question snaps him out of his reverie and jihoon blinks at him blankly as his brain tries to process the question.

“tomorrow?” jihoon asks in confusion. “i was just going to catch up grading some assignments.” he's also planning on catching up with the variety shows he’s missed these past few weeks, but seongwoo didn’t need to know that.

“i see,” seongwoo nods. “we should go watch a movie.”

“excuse me?” jihoon frowns a little.

“a movie, jihoon-ssaem.” seongwoo grins at him. “i’m asking you out on a date.”

“oh.” jihoon blinks. well, he hadn’t been expecting that. he’s not sure what to think. “i see.”

“it’s okay if you don’t want to.” seongwoo leans back on his chair and levels jihoon with a steady stare. “but i would like it if you said yes.”

jihoon purses his lips thoughtfully. “okay. did you have a movie in mind?”

seongwoo raises an eyebrow, clearly not having expected jihoon to say yes. “oh, um. to be honest i didn’t really plan past the part where you reject me.”

“you thought i would reject you?” jihoon feels his lips beginning to curl up in a smile. “you have so little faith in yourself, seongwoo-ssaem.”

“well, can you blame me?” seongwoo gives him a look. “you spent the first month i started working at the school avoiding me.”

jihoon grimaces at that. “that’s true. well, i said yes, so i hope you have a good movie planned for us to watch.”

seongwoo gives him a wicked grin. “i’ll try my best not to let you down.”

jihoon smiles back at him and they spend the rest of their lunch break bantering back and forth like normal.

***

seongwoo picks him up the next day at 11 a.m. and the pair go out for lunch before heading to the theater.

despite jihoon’s protests, seongwoo pays for the lunch, movie tickets, and snacks. “i was the one who asked you out, after all,” seongwoo shrugs. “it’s only fair that i pay for today’s date. you can pay for the next one.”

“who says there’s going to be a second date?” jihoon raises an eyebrow and gives seongwoo a teasing smirk.

“how cruel,” seongwoo laments dramatically. “i’ve been played with.”

jihoon laughs and misses the way seongwoo stares at him with overly fond eyes, as his attention is stolen by a familiar figure and jihoon freezes in his tracks. it couldn’t be—

—but it is. woojin turns at that moment and freezes as well. the ex-lovers stare at each other in shock, the world stilling around them as if they’re the only ones there in the theater at that moment. it’s been almost a year since they last saw each other, and the years of memories and months of pain come flooding back and jihoon almost doubles over at the pain in his chest. he swallows and tries to look away, but it’s almost as if woojin has a magnet on him that forces jihoon to keep staring.

“jihoon?” seongwoo’s careful touch on his shoulder jolts jihoon and allows him to tear his gaze away from woojin. seongwoo’s eyebrows are furrowed in worry and there’s a frown on his face. “are you okay? i’ve been calling your name for the past minute.”

has it really only been a minute? jihoon tries to find his voice but fails and closes his mouth. he tries to blink the tears away but seongwoo notices before he can, and he straightens up in shock.

“do you want to leave?” he asks in a low voice, his eyes darting around to try to find what jihoon had been staring at. jihoon closes his eyes and lets out a shaky breath.

“no,” he says when his voice finally comes back. “we already paid for the movie and snacks. i’ll be fine.” he tries to give seongwoo a reassuring smile but clearly fails when the elder doesn’t look like he believes him. “seongwoo, please.” it’s the first time they’re addressing each other without any form of honorifics, and jihoon wonders if seongwoo’s noticed.

“okay, then. let me know if you’re not feeling well, okay? who cares if we paid for the movie.” seongwoo drops the hand that’s been resting on jihoon’s shoulder and takes his hand instead. “is this okay?”

jihoon stares at their hands. “yeah, this is okay.”

he looks up and sees that woojin is staring at their interlocked hands with a frown, his eyes snapping back up when he realizes that jihoon is staring at him. jihoon stares at him for another second before dragging his gaze away and lets seongwoo lead him to the theater.

***

“i ran into woojin on sunday,” jihoon tells donghan when the two meet up for dinner. it’s a thursday night, and jihoon knows that he probably shouldn’t drink since he has work tomorrow, but the pain and shock of seeing woojin had been too much. jihoon is only human, after all.

donghan pauses mid-bite and stares at jihoon. “oh. where?”

“at the theater,” jihoon responds and picks at his food. donghan raises an eyebrow at this because he knows jihoon would never willingly leave his house to go watch a movie at the theater when he has netflix at home.

“who were you with?” donghan asks.

“a colleague from work,” jihoon admits with a sigh. he sets his chopsticks down when it’s clear the food in front of him isn’t enough to incite his appetite to come back.

“was it a date?” donghan asks cautiously. he’s the only one who knows how hurt jihoon still is from his break up with woojin, despite the fact it’s been almost a year. feelings that run deep don’t just disappear overnight, after all.

“yes.” jihoon nods. “it was a date.”

donghan gives him a smile and jihoon knows that his friend is proud of him for taking the steps to start moving on. “i see. how did it go?”

“not that well,” jihoon mumbles.

“is that what you think or is that what your date thinks?” donghan questions him with a knowing gaze.

“what i think,” jihoon confesses quietly. he thinks donghan knows him too well. when he voices his thoughts out loud, donghan snorts quietly.

“well, i would hope so. i’m your best friend, after all.” donghan grins at jihoon. “give him a chance, jihoon. give yourself a chance to heal, too. i know how much woojin meant to you, but you can’t keep dwelling on the past forever.”

jihoon knows donghan is right. he can’t stay stuck in the past when he knows the world will move forward and life will go on, whether jihoon’s ready or not.

***

“you don’t have lunch duty today, right?” seongwoo asks him during break time and jihoon looks up from his laptop in surprise.

“no, why?” he frowns up at the math teacher. jihoon can see jaehwan raising an eyebrow and watching the two of them from his peripheral vision and makes a mental note to avoid the orchestra teacher as much as he could today.

“let’s grab lunch together. there’s something i want to talk to you about, if that’s okay.” jihoon has a feeling he knows what seongwoo wants to talk about from the contemplative look he’s giving him.

“okay.” jihoon agrees. “i brought my own lunch today, though.”

“perfect.” seongwoo grins at me. “i brought mine too. maybe we can share.”

jihoon snorts and waves the teacher off. there’s still two hours until lunch time and jihoon needs to get his lesson plans in order for next week. seongwoo leaves with a chuckle and jihoon buries himself in his work before jaehwan can question him about what had just happened.

***

“what did you bring?” seongwoo peeks at jihoon’s lunchbox. they’re up at the rooftop despite the hot weather and jihoon squints when the sun hits his face.

“why are we up on the rooftop when there’s a perfectly fine staffroom with a working a/c downstairs?” he grumbles as they unpack their respective lunchboxes. jihoon had packed his leftovers from dinner with donghan last night. he looks over and sees that seongwoo has packed a simple sandwich with fruits on the side.

“because who doesn’t love a little sunshine, right, jihoon-ssaem?” seongwoo shoots him a grin. “you should share some of that, by the way. i love hamburg steak.”

“is there any food you _don’t_ like?” jihoon smirks but offers seongwoo some of his lunch anyways. “what was it that you wanted to talk about?”

seongwoo chews and gives jihoon a curious gaze. “what happened at the theater, if you don’t mind me asking?”

jihoon stills and stares at seongwoo. he swallows his food but stays silent. seongwoo waits for him to gather himself. it’s clear from his body language and diction that seongwoo is giving jihoon the choice to stay silent and run, and jihoon wonders if he should take that option instead of baring a part of his soul to seongwoo.

but then he remembers donghan’s words and pauses. he’s pretty sure—no, he _knows_ for sure that woojin’s moved on by now, so why shouldn’t jihoon? it’s clear that their paths are diverged for good now, and jihoon takes a deep breath, getting seongwoo’s attention.

“my ex-boyfriend,” jihoon starts, “park woojin. he was at the theater and i guess seeing him surprised me. it’s been almost a year since we last saw each other.”

“ah, i see,” seongwoo nods. “that’s understandable. if i ran into daniel i would be shocked too.”

“daniel?” jihoon tilts his head curiously.

“my ex-boyfriend,” seongwoo gives him a wry smile. “nasty breakup. there was a lot of shouting and throwing. we’ve reconciled now, but it’d still take me off-guard if i ran into him without warning.”

“ah.” jihoon makes a noise of understanding. “i see.”

“yeah.” seongwoo stretches and sets down the empty aluminum foil that his sandwich was in. “would you be okay with me asking about this woojin?”

jihoon gives seongwoo a small, sardonic smile. “i wouldn’t have bothered telling you if i wasn’t prepared for that. we don’t have enough time now, but maybe over dinner?”

“are you asking me out on a date, jihoon-ssaem?” seongwoo’s eyes are full of mirth and jihoon can’t help the chuckle that escapes him.

“a date to tell you about my ex-boyfriend, sure,” jihoon teases a little. “sounds like the perfect, ideal date to me.”

seongwoo laughs. “i’ll still be spending time with you, right? alright, dinner sounds good. shall we head over together after the meeting after school?”

jihoon smiles. “sounds like a plan.”

***

jihoon and seongwoo sit across from each other at a nearby sushi restaurant. minhyun had recommended it to jihoon a while back, but he’s never found the time to try it. seongwoo had seemed adamant in hitting up all the _matjips_ , though, and so jihoon decides to indulge him.

“so,” seongwoo says as he breaks his chopsticks into two perfect halves. jihoon pouts when he looks down at his less-than perfect halves and seongwoo chuckles and offers to switch. “i’m all ears whenever you’re ready, i guess.”

“it’s a long story.” jihoon warns him as he chews on his sushi. “are you prepared?”

seongwoo gives him a smirk. “i’m never prepared when it comes to you, _jihoon_.”

jihoon ignores the shivers seongwoo’s voice incites and begins to tell him the story of him and woojin.

***

jihoon and woojin met in their second year of high school when jihoon moved into the apartment next to woojin’s and the two of them it off immediately.

it takes no time for them to become best friends, and when they’re accepted into the same university they don’t hesitate in becoming roommates.

it’s not until their second year of university that feelings begin to develop. jihoon starts noticing woojin more and more while woojin finds himself looking for jihoon whenever he’s in a crowded area. they find solace in each other and become a couple at the end of their second year. none of their friends are surprised at the news and a few of them are confused because they had thought that they were already dating, just keeping the news from them.

they break up a few times due to senseless, stupid arguments but manage to swallow their prides and get back together after countless apologies. they try the heal the cracks by being more affectionate with each other and whispers of sweet nothings, and it helps for a certain amount of time.

after graduation, woojin is hired immediately by a start-up company while jihoon opts to stay as a freelancer for a couple more months before settling down at the high school he still teaches at today. it takes a little work to find an apartment that’s close enough to both of their workplaces, but they manage to find one for a good price and move in together.

the first few months are blissful and pass by without anything major happening. the most they argue about is what to have for lunch or whose turn it is to do the dishes.

then, after about a year of living together, the arguments start happening. it was inevitable, jihoon muses when he thinks back at it. they were still young—just fresh out of college and trying to survive adulthood. the worsening economy doesn’t make it any better; woojin is fired from his job due to them not having the resources to support many employees, and woojin had been one of the last ones to join the team.

jihoon becomes their sole breadwinner and the arguments go from arguing about what to eat for dinner to arguing about their rising bills and woojin’s situation. woojin does manage to find another job within the year, thankfully, but the arguments don’t stop there.

jihoon’s salary as an art teacher and woojin’s salary from his new job aren’t enough to cover for their bills and other necessities and they find themselves having to tap into their savings more than they would like. jihoon doesn’t want to pressure woojin—that’s the last thing he wants to do. but he tries to coax woojin into taking a project with a team leader woojin hates, but one that’ll give woojin a chance at a promotion.

“woojin, we need the money,” jihoon tells him tiredly. he’s spent majority of the night calculating their expenses, and they’re short. again. “that promotion will help us a lot.”

“you think i don’t know that?” woojin snaps at him. “i know just as well as you do how much that promotion will help, jihoon.”

jihoon bites down at his lips to keep himself from snapping back. “then why are you so against taking that project? you were offered a spot, weren’t you?”

woojin seethes silently and jihoon has his answer.

“you weren’t?” jihoon asks quietly. his voice is barely above a whisper, but it sounds so, _so_ loud in the silence that follows. the two of them sit at the dining table silently, lost in their own thoughts. jihoon wonders how they’ll make it this month; he doesn’t want to have to tap into their savings again—it’s depleting at a rate faster than jihoon likes and he knows it isn’t long before they run out.

“no. it was given to someone else,” woojin says finally, breaking the silence.

“ah.” jihoon stays silent.

woojin gets up abruptly. “i’ll do something about it, okay?”

“okay,” jihoon says quietly and continues to stare at the table even as woojin storms out of the apartment. he closes his eyes and holds back the tears that threaten to escape him.

woojin, thankfully, does end up getting a promotion a few months later. one of the projects he led had managed to get them a deal with a bigger company, bringing in a lot of profit for the company woojin is at.

they celebrate by going out to dinner at their favorite restaurant, and it’s as if the months of arguments had never happened. jihoon feels hope rising inside him at how they’re going back to how they were before the arguments. woojin surprises him with flowers and small gifts, jihoon wakes him up with a kiss and breakfast before leaving for work, they start going on regular dates on the weekends again—it had seemed like they were on their way back to mending their relationship.

the saying “all good things must come to an end” rings in jihoon’s mind as he and woojin argue, their voices rising until they’re shouting at each other. jihoon can’t even remember what the argument had been about. he doesn’t even register it ending until woojin leaves the apartment and slams the door behind him, leaving jihoon to sink to the floor in inconsolable sobs.

they avoid each other the best they can for the next few weeks. woojin voluntarily works all the over-time his boss needs him for and jihoon stays at the school to finish grading assignments and organize his lesson plans. woojin sleeps in the guest room they have and jihoon goes to sleep and wakes up to an empty bed that’s too big for one person.

daehwi and jinyoung’s wedding force them to reconcile for a bit in an effort to not ruin the two’s special day. as soon as they’re home from the wedding, however, they pick up where they left off and this time it’s jihoon who storms out of the apartment with a small duffle bag in tow. he ends up crashing a jaehwan’s place for a few days before woojin comes knocking, apologies spilling out of his mouth like a waterfall.

the days that follow are tense; one wrong step and everything they built up the past few years would go tumbling down. jihoon doesn’t even know where to start in order to reconcile. the words they had thrown at each other had _hurt_.

“jihoon.” it’s woojin who breaks the silence between them first. “jihoon, i’m so sorry.”

jihoon pauses for a moment before continuing to grade. his back is tense, and he can feel woojin’s stare from behind him.

“jihoon.” woojin’s voice is closer now and a hesitant hand land on jihoon’s shoulder. jihoon sets his pen down with a sigh and closes his eyes. “baby, i’m so sorry.”

woojin hugs him from behind and jihoon lets out a broken sigh at the feeling of woojin’s arms around him again. they spend the rest of the night mumbling apologies on each other’s skin and wake up together and in each other’s arms for the first time in weeks. they pick up the broken pieces together and try to move forward.

it’s not until jihoon sees those around him starting to settle down that it hits him, and he stares at sungwoon and taehyun’s wedding invitation in his hands with a small frown.

“what’s that?” woojin asks as he wraps his arms around jihoon’s waist and rests his chin on jihoon’s shoulder. “wow. are those two hyungs finally getting married?”

“apparently.” jihoon turns the invitation and makes a note of the date. “seems like everyone’s starting to settle down, huh.”

“yeah,” woojin murmurs into jihoon’s neck, pressing soft kisses here and there. “guess so.”

jihoon asks his next question with a lot of hesitation. “what about… us?”

woojin freezes and jihoon feels him go tense. he forces his eyes to stay on the wedding invitation even when woojin moves away slowly.

he gets his answer when woojin goes to their room without giving him an answer and a part of jihoon’s heart shatters into unfixable pieces.

they don’t talk about the conversation until after sungwoon and taehyun’s wedding. it’s clear that woojin isn’t ready to settle down despite the fact the two of them have been together for a little over four years. jihoon tries to understand; he really does. but he doesn’t understand why woojin seems against in making things a little more official between the two of them. neither of them are getting any younger and even jihoon’s parents had been asking about the two of them settling down whenever jihoon calls home.

he knows woojin won’t be the one to bring up the topic first, so he forces himself to do it first.

“woojin,” he says one night. they’re eating dinner while watching a show that’s playing on tv. “do you not want to get married?”

woojin sets down his chopsticks and purses his lips. “it’s not that i don’t want to get married. i just don’t know if i’m ready for it.”

jihoon feels the anger rising but forces himself to stay calm. “what do you mean you’re not sure if you’re ready for it? you know we’ve been dating for four years, right?”

“i know that,” woojin snaps. he seems to regret it, though, because he recoils back immediately when he sees the flash of hurt in jihoon’s eyes. “i just… don’t know.”

“don’t know if you’re ready for that level of commitment?” jihoon asks in a low voice. he knows woojin can hear the anger in his voice, but he doesn’t care.

“jihoon…” woojin sighs and runs his fingers through his hair. “do we have to talk about this now?”

“yes.” jihoon doesn’t bother trying to hide his anger. “i don’t get it. were four years of being in a serious relationship not enough for you to decide if you’re ready to settle down or not?”

“i don’t understand why it’s such a big deal,” woojin retorts. “the only thing that’ll change is that we’ll be wearing wedding rings around our fingers. is that what you want? a ring around your finger? if that’s what you want so much, i’ll just buy you the damn ring!”

woojin knows he took it too far when jihoon reels back in shock, tears beginning to pool in his eyes. he stands up and storms out of the living room before woojin can grab him and locks the bedroom door behind him. he sinks down onto the floor and buries his head in his arms. the tears don’t stop and jihoon barely registers woojin banging on the door and begging for jihoon to come out. he doesn’t hear the apologies that leave woojin’s lips because he knows that no matter how sorry woojin says he is, nothing will change.

somewhere deep inside him, jihoon knows that this is the last argument. this is the final straw and nothing the two of them do can repair the hurt left behind with their words. jihoon ignores woojin’s attempts to apologize, which causes the latter to grow angry as well. they ignore each other in cold silence until it’s so suffocating to be home that jihoon finds himself staying later and later at school with each passing day.

the breaking point comes when jihoon comes home late after a stressful staff meeting and woojin snaps at him for something jihoon can’t even muster up the energy to remember. they scream at each other and throw hurtful, hateful words at each other until they exhaust themselves.

woojin spends the next morning packing up his belongings and is gone before noon.

***

jihoon doesn’t know at what point he started crying, but when he finishes telling seongwoo the story, he finds that the older man is sitting next to him instead of across from him, wiping away jihoon’s tears as they fall.

silence envelops them and jihoon wonders how seongwoo will react. will he tell jihoon that it was his fault for pushing woojin even though he clearly wasn’t ready? will he tell jihoon that woojin is at fault for not trying to understand jihoon’s feelings?

seongwoo doesn’t say anything but instead wraps an arm around jihoon and pulls him in close. he rests his chin on top of jihoon’s head and the two of them stay like that for a few minutes in silence.

“i’m sorry,” seongwoo says. “i don’t know what to say.”

jihoon chuckles a little and leans into seongwoo’s embrace. it’s nice. “that’s okay. i didn’t expect you to. thank you for listening.”

“of course,” seongwoo murmurs into jihoon’s hair. “i told you i would, didn’t i? thank you for trusting me enough to tell me about him. i know it wasn’t easy.”

they fall into silence. neither of them are finished with their food, but jihoon doesn’t have an appetite and it doesn’t seem like seongwoo has one either.

“shall we go?” seongwoo asks him quietly when it’s clear that the two of them aren’t making moves to finish their dinner.

“yeah, let’s go.” jihoon reluctantly pulls himself away from seongwoo’s embrace. “i’ll pay today, since i’m the one who asked you out today.”

seongwoo cracks a small grin at that and agrees. the pair leave the restaurant and seongwoo leads jihoon to his car. “i’ll take you home. you’re on the way, anyways.”

“what a gentleman,” jihoon chuckles. “thank you, seongwoo-ssaem.”

“we’re way past calling each other with honorifics now, aren’t we?” seongwoo muses. “you call jaehwan-ssaem ‘hyung’, right? you can just call me seongwoo, i don’t mind.”

jihoon hides his smile behind his hand and gets in the car when seongwoo opens the door for him. “seongwoo,” he tries out, rolling seongwoo’s name around his tongue. “seongwoo.”

“don’t wear it out too much,” seongwoo warns him jokingly. his eyes are dark and jihoon catches his eyes flickering down to stare at jihoon’s lips before snapping back up.

“i’ll try not to,” jihoon says. he doesn’t know who leans in first, but they meet each other halfway and jihoon wonders if he’s finally ready to truly move on.

***

they don’t have a label for what’s going on between them. jihoon knows it’s because seongwoo doesn’t want rush to him, and jihoon appreciates that. the kiss they had shared after that dinner had been the first and last one. the most they do when they go out is hold hands and cuddle if they’re over at each other’s apartments.

jaehwan notices how close the two of them have gotten and corners jihoon about it one morning before school starts.

“are you dating seongwoo-ssaem?” jaehwan gets straight to the point.

“no,” jihoon’s answer comes quick. he thinks for a bit before adding, “not yet, i think.”

“you think?” jaehwan raises an eyebrow at his answer.

“well, he hasn’t said anything yet.” jihoon shrugs. “and neither have i. we’re just waiting to see where the current takes us, i guess.”

“nice metaphor,” jaehwan hums appreciatively. “been hanging out with sohye-ssaem, have you?”

“we might’ve run into her and yoojung-ssi when we were out the other day,” jihoon admits.

“we?” jaehwan smirks knowingly.

“be quiet, hyung. it’s too early for this.” jihoon pouts as the two of them walk into the staffroom. they’re early; only minhyun and sejeong are in. jihoon holds back a snort when jaehwan ditches him immediately when he sees minhyun and shakes his head. maybe he could convince jaehwan to _finally_ do something about his feelings for the band teacher.

he’s not sure how much longer he can watch his hyung and fellow teacher make a fool of himself, after all.

***

“i hope you don’t mind me asking,” seongwoo starts, “but what are we?”

jihoon pauses in his search for a movie to watch on his netflix at seongwoo's question. they’re at jihoon’s apartment because the unexpected rain had prevented them from having the picnic they planned on having at hangang.

“we’re… teachers?” jihoon’s not sure what seongwoo’s trying to ask and he looks up at the other man with a slight frown. "you teach math, remember? and i teach art. ring a bell?"

seongwoo huffs out a laugh and shakes his head. “i know that, thanks. what i mean is, what are _we_?” he gestures towards the two of them. jihoon frowns at him for a second before realizing what seongwoo’s trying to ask.

“oh.” jihoon blinks. “why do you have to ask it like that? why can’t you just ask me straight up?”

“hard to be straight when the only thing i can think about is how much i want to kiss you right now,” seongwoo rolls his eyes and jihoon’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise. “what? don’t look so surprised. i’ve been making myself pretty obvious the past few days, don’t you think?”

he has, but jihoon’s not going to admit that. “what do you want us to be?” he asks instead.

seongwoo stares at him for a second. “i want you to be my boyfriend.”

“okay,” jihoon agrees easily. “then i guess that’s what we are: boyfriends.”

“nice. am i allowed to kiss you now, then?” seongwoo smirks at him, and jihoon just rolls his eyes at how audacious seongwoo is being. that seems to be enough of an answer for seongwoo, though, because jihoon finds himself being pushed down to lay on the sofa with seongwoo hovering over him, staring down at him with hooded eyes.

jihoon doesn’t get a chance to react before seongwoo is pressing their lips together, but he finds himself smiling into the kiss nonetheless. seongwoo tastes like a mix of the strawberries and oranges they were eating earlier, and jihoon finds himself wanting to taste more. when seongwoo licks his bottom lips as permission to deepen the kiss, jihoon complies without a second thought and wraps his arms around seongwoo's neck to bring him in closer, allowing himself to get lost in the feeling of seongwoo, seongwoo, and _seongwoo_.

***

jaehwan eyes the hickey that slightly pokes out from jihoon’s shirt and smirks. “you should cover that up better before your students see.”

jihoon turns red and throws on the jacket he’s brought before shooting a glare at jaehwan. “please don’t talk to me ever again, thanks.”

“not dating, huh?” jaehwan says instead, amusement swimming in his eyes. “is your answer still the same as it was last week, jihoonie?”

“hyung, i don’t care if we’re at school. i _will_ drop kick your sorry ass.”

***

jihoon introduces seongwoo to donghan when it’s clear that their relationship is serious. donghan eyes him skeptically but something in seongwoo’s eyes makes him accept the older man, much to jihoon’s relief.

“i’m glad you’ve moved on,” donghan whispers in his ear when they part later that night. “i’m happy for you.”

“thanks, donghan.” jihoon gives his friend a soft smile. donghan returns the smile before turning to seongwoo with a glare, though the twinkle in his eyes betray how he’s really feeling.

“if you hurt him, i’m coming after you,” donghan warns seongwoo with a smirk, who takes the threat without argument. “i’ll have you know, hyunmin is a nationally ranked taekwondo athlete.”

jihoon shoves him away with a laugh and waves goodbye. donghan leaves with a good-natured laugh and jihoon finds himself feeling so blessed that he has friends by his side to support him.

“i like him,” seongwoo tells him when they’re in the car on the way to jihoon’s apartment. “a little scary, but nice.”

“wait until you meet haknyeon and hyunmin,” jihoon giggles into his hand. “donghan wasn’t kidding about hyunmin being a nationally ranked taekwondo athlete, you know.”

seongwoo makes a face at that but turns his head to give jihoon a small smirk. “that’s okay. i won’t have to worry about him as long as i don’t hurt you, right? it’s a good thing i don’t plan on doing that, then.”

jihoon’s heart stutters at seongwoo’s words and he turns away to look outside the window. he knows that his face is probably bright red, and seongwoo’s laughter confirms his thoughts.

seongwoo moves in later that month when jihoon tells him in exasperation that he spends more time at jihoon’s apartment than his own anyways, and that he should just move in instead of wasting money on rent at an apartment he’s never at.

“this is the weirdest way anyone’s asked me to move in with them,” seongwoo tells jihoon with a smirk. it falls after a second though and seongwoo looks up at the ceiling with furrowed eyebrows. “it’s the first time anyone’s asked me to move in with them _period_ , actually.”

jihoon snorts at this and shakes his head as he helps seongwoo move the rest of his belongings into jihoon’s— _their_ —apartment. there’s not much; half of seongwoo’s wardrobe and little trinkets had slowly been making their way into the apartment since long ago. he even had his own mug and drawer, for crying out loud.

they know that seongwoo moving in takes their relationship to the next step. a part of jihoon is worried, but those worries dissipate when seongwoo sits them down to talk about where to go from there. they work out some ground rules, with the number one rule being that they _always_ communicate what they’re thinking and feeling, even if it has the potential to hurt the other.

“if there’s anything i’ve learned in the past,” seongwoo says, “it's that communication is key for a relationship to work out.”

jihoon knows this to be true; it was the downfall of his and woojin’s relationship, after all. perhaps if they had been better about letting each other know about how they were feeling, they wouldn’t have ended up like that.

but jihoon doesn’t care about the past anymore; not when seongwoo is looking at him with so much adoration in his eyes as if jihoon had hung the stars up in the sky.

***

living with seongwoo is unsurprisingly very domestic. they split the chores, with jihoon doing the cooking after seongwoo almost poisoned them both with his version of fried rice, and seongwoo does the dishes.

they rotate on who does the laundry each week and cleans the bathroom together once every two weeks. grocery shopping is usually delegated to whoever has the time to go, but the two of them try to go together if they can help it. jihoon isn’t very fond of having to go alone since it means that he has to carry everything home by himself, while seongwoo is just naturally very, for a lack of better word, clingy.

it’s on one of their grocery trips that they run into woojin together for the first time as an official couple. jihoon hasn’t seen him since the movie theater incident, and he wonders if it’s fate trying to trip him up just when he’s finally able to pick himself up and be happy again.

they stare at each other in silence; jihoon eyes the ring woojin’s wearing on his left ring finger and wonders if it’s just a couple ring or something more. woojin eyes jihoon’s cart that’s too full for someone who’s living alone and wonders if he and the man he saw jihoon with at the theater are living together in what used to be _their_ apartment.

“jihoon.” it’s woojin who breaks the silence.

“woojin.” jihoon tries to give his ex-lover a smile, but his muscles refuse to obey. “how are you?”

“i’m… good,” woojin says hesitantly. “and you?”

“i’m okay,” jihoon says easily. his heart is thundering in his chest and he feels the blood rushing to his ears, but he doesn’t allow himself to show his discomfort. it’s not like jihoon hasn’t moved on yet, because he has. it’s just, seeing woojin without a warning takes him by surprise.

“babe, do we have any detergent left?” jihoon hears seongwoo coming up to him from behind and jihoon turns around with panic written all over his face. this causes seongwoo to pause in his step and stare at jihoon with a frown, their shopping list clutched in his hand. he gives jihoon a confused look before looking ahead at the man standing in front of jihoon, who’s staring back at him with narrowed eyes. “oh? who’s this?”

“this is… woojin.” jihoon clears his throat and prays that seongwoo hears the unsaid ‘help’ that lies in his words.

“ah.” seongwoo makes a noise of understanding, and jihoon knows his prayers have been heard. “i see.” he walks up to the two of them and rests one hand on jihoon’s waist and extends the other one forward. “nice to meet you, woojin-ssi. my name is seongwoo.”

woojin’s eyes stare at the hand resting on jihoon’s waist before flickering to stare at the one that’s outstretched towards him for a handshake and takes it reluctantly. “nice to meet you too, seongwoo-ssi.”

jihoon knows that he probably looks like he’s about to have an aneurysm at the exchange and seongwoo, bless his soul, takes pity on him. “yes, well, if you’ll excuse us, we have somewhere to be. hope to see you around, woojin-ssi.” he gently guides jihoon and their cart away from woojin and doesn’t let him go until they’ve finished paying for their stuff and left the mart. “you okay?” seongwoo asks once they’re in the car.

“yeah,” jihoon says, and he knows it’s the truth. “i just didn’t expect to see him here, i guess.”

“clearly,” seongwoo snorts, sounding a little amused. “he’s a little shorter than what i imagined.

“seongwoo.”

“what? i’m just saying!”

***

seongwoo comes with a small cry and groans as he reaches over, and with a few flick of his wrists, jihoon comes undone as well. they’re both gasping for breath and jihoon grunts when seongwoo’s arms give out and he collapses on top of jihoon.

“i love you,” seongwoo gasps out as he struggles to regain his breath. jihoon’s own breath hitches and his heart races as he wonders if he heard that correctly. before he can ask, though, seongwoo is already getting up to get some tissues to clean themselves.

after they clean themselves up, seongwoo goes to throw away the tissues. when he comes back, jihoon is blinking up at him sleepily and opens his arms. seongwoo lays down with a chuckle and brings jihoon into a lazy hug.

“seongwoo,” jihoon mumbles into seongwoo’s chest. he feels seongwoo hum in response and continues. “i love you too.”

jihoon feels seongwoo press a kiss on the top of his head as he drifts off to dreamland.

***

“so, how’s the married life?” jaehwan asks jihoon one afternoon. school’s been over for a couple of hours, but he and the rest of the fine arts teachers were stuck trying to come up with a plan for the end-of-the-year fine arts showcase.

jihoon shoots jaehwan an annoyed look. “we’re not married.”

“but if you were to get married, i’d be the first to know, right?” jaehwan pokes him and jihoon tries to swat him away in annoyance. the small smile on his face betrays his true emotions, however, and jaehwan cackles in victory.

“what’s happening?” chaeyeon looks over and gives the two of them a weird look. jihoon sighs as jaehwan lets out another cackle. neither he nor seongwoo had explicitly told the other teachers that they were dating, but they’ve been pretty obvious about their affections.

“jihoon-ssaem, i know we all pretty much know already but we want to hear you say it from your own mouth.” yeonjung whirls around in her chair and faces jihoon with a wicked grin. “are you and seongwoo-ssaem dating?”

jihoon just heaves a sigh in response and chaeyeon’s laughs as she whips her phone out. “oh, man. chungha-ssaem is going to be so sad when she hears about this.”

“yeah?” both jihoon and jaehwan raise an eyebrow at this. “what do you mean?” jaehwan asks chaeyeon, who snickers and throws a smug smirk at jihoon.

“chungha-ssaem has a crush on seongwoo-ssaem,” she sing songs and jihoon finds himself chuckling. “a lot the female teachers have a crush on him, actually. they’ll be disappointed when they find out he’s taken by none other than jihoon-ssaem.”

“why is that?” minhyun asks curiously.

“a lot of the female teachers have a crush on our dear art teacher over here too,” yeonjung snickers a little. “you guys don’t really bother keeping up with the gossip, right? jihoon-ssaem is really popular because of his looks and personality.”

jihoon turns red at this and jaehwan pokes his cheeks teasingly. “aw, look at him blushing! seongwoo-ssaem isn’t going to be happy about this, you know.”

“what am i not going to be happy about?” seongwoo pokes his head in and gives everyone a charming grin. “hello. are you guys finished?”

he walks in carrying coffee and pastries for them to eat and jihoon feels a surge of affection towards his boyfriend. “you didn’t have to do this, you know,” he whispers as they watch chaeyeon and yeonjung practically cry over quality coffee compared to the watered-down coffee in the staffroom.

“i know,” seongwoo responds. he wraps an arm around jihoon’s shoulder and gives him a kiss on the forehead. “i wanted to.”

jihoon turns red at jaehwan cooing at the “cutest couple” and hides his face in seongwoo’s chest, who laughs and helps jihoon hide his face more by bringing him in for a big hug.

***

from: **unknown**

hey, it’s woojin. can we meet up? to talk?

***

jihoon tells seongwoo about the text he received the other night. he’s surprised that woojin even still has his number. or maybe he still has it memorized. jihoon doesn’t know what to think of that.

“you should go.” seongwoo nods and gives jihoon an understanding smile. “you deserve closure. both of you do.”

this is one of the many things he loves about seongwoo, jihoon thinks. not only is he understanding of his and woojin’s “situation,” but he’s also insanely confident that jihoon will come back home to him. this makes jihoon smirk.

“you’re so confident that i’ll come back to you, aren’t you?” jihoon teases lightly and rests his head on seongwoo’s chest, a content smile on his face.

“why wouldn’t i be?” is seongwoo’s simple response. “it doesn’t matter what he wants to talk to you about. at the end of the day, i’m the one you’re coming home too.”

***

he meets woojin at a café near woojin’s workplace. it’s winter break for jihoon, and so he decides to make the trip since woojin is still working.

when he walks in, he finds that woojin is already waiting for him with a cup of coffee sitting in between his hands, a small, contemplative frown set on his face. jihoon notes absentmindedly that the ring he was wearing when jihoon saw him last is gone.

“woojin.” jihoon greets him before sitting down across the other male. woojin startles out of his thoughts and stares dumbly at jihoon for a second, causing jihoon to slightly smirk. old habits die hard, he thinks.

“jihoon.” woojin exhales deeply and runs a hand through his hair. he huffs out a small laugh and peeks at jihoon from his lashes. “i didn’t expect you to come, honestly. i wouldn’t have blamed you if you didn’t.”

jihoon shrugs. “it’s been a while since we saw each other. i thought it would be nice to… catch up. with an old friend.”

he knows woojin is more than capable of reading in between the lines. this is proven when woojin flushes slightly and straightens up with a serious expression.

“i wanted to apologize,” he starts. “it’s late, i know, but better late than never, right?” he gives a sardonic chuckle and looks at jihoon in the eyes again. “i hurt you. badly. and i just want to let you know that i’m so sorry for it. you didn’t deserve that; i was being an insecure idiot, and in the process of trying to figure out what i wanted in life, i hurt you.”

jihoon stays silent during woojin’s apology and plays with the napkin in front of him to keep his hands busy. “it hurt, you know, when you made it seem like you didn’t want to get married—didn’t want to get married to me.”

“i know, hoonie,” woojin whispers and jihoon bites his lip at the familiar nickname. “i know.”

“why did you do it?” he looks up and the ex-lovers stare at each other.

“i was scared,” woojin says quietly. he looks down and breaks eye contact, opting to stare at his now-cold coffee. jihoon knows this is a defense mechanism for when woojin’s feeling insecure, so he doesn’t comment. “everyone around us was getting married and settling down with a _family_ , while we were just starting to pick ourselves up and meet ends meet. i wasn’t ready for a family—i wasn’t sure if i could even support one, to be honest. just thinking about it scared me, i guess, and i assumed that you thought the same, which obviously wasn’t the case.”

he gives jihoon a wry smile at that and jihoon purses his lips.

“i wasn’t ready for a family either, you know,” he points out softly. “i never said anything about starting a family right then and there. i just wanted to know—to confirm—that you were on the same page with me about commitment. about staying together forever.”

“i realized,” woojin admits in a low voice. his eyes don’t leave his coffee cup. “i realized right after i walked out the door. but it was too late, you know? i knew no matter what i did would be able to erase the amount of pain i gave you. you deserved someone better—someone who could give you so much more than i could.”

there are tears in both of their eyes as they reminisce about the past and wonder about the “what if’s.” jihoon collects himself first and takes a deep breath.

“you’re right,” he says. “i don’t think anything you could’ve done would’ve erased how hurt i was. but woojin, you put yourself down too much, you know that? i was happy when i was with you. yes, we had our arguments, but what couple doesn’t? do you remember whenever daehwi or jinyoung would come crying and crash at our apartment after one of their screaming matches? or how sungwoon hyung and taehyun hyung once broke up like what, five times in the span of a month?

“don’t put yourself down, park woojin, because then you’re insulting me as well. me, who was happy during the four years we were together. me, who loved you more than anything in the world.” jihoon gives woojin a soft smile and reaches over to take one of woojin’s hand in his.

woojin squeezes back and stares at their interlocked hands for a second before pulling away. it’s out of respect, jihoon knows, because he knows that woojin knows about him and seongwoo.

“does he make you happy?” woojin quietly asks.

“he does,” jihoon confirms. “he makes me really happy.”

woojin gives him a brilliant smile. “i’m glad, hoonie. i’m really glad.”

***

“hey, seongwoo?” jihoon mumbles into seongwoo’s back, who’s currently doing the dishes.

“yes, love?” seongwoo asks as he places a cup in the drying rack. “what’s up?”

“nothing,” jihoon says. “i love you.”

seongwoo stops and looks back with an eyebrow raised. “are you okay? did you do something wrong?” he teases his boyfriend lightly. something about jihoon’s tone of voice makes seongwoo worry, and he hopes that nothing’s wrong.

jihoon looks up at him with furrowed eyebrows and a petulant pout. “no? i just wanted to tell my boyfriend that i love him. is that so wrong?”

seongwoo chuckles and shuts off the water before drying his hands on the kitchen towel. he turns around and wraps his arms around jihoon’s waist and nuzzles against jihoon’s neck, leaving a trail of light kisses up to his jaw.

“no, there’s nothing wrong with that,” seongwoo mumbles against jihoon’s cheeks. “i was just surprised, that’s all. you’re not the type to randomly throw those words around out of nowhere, after all.”

jihoon hums and closes his eyes, relishing in the warmth seongwoo’s body emitted. “maybe i’m just feeling affectionate right now, that’s all.”

seongwoo smiles and gives jihoon one last peck. “cute. you’re cute, park jihoon. go wait for me at the couch while i finish these dishes, and you can show me how affectionate you’re feeling by cuddling with me while we watch a movie.”

jihoon complies with a squeal when seongwoo flicks little droplets of water at him and smiles to himself as he chooses a movie for them to watch.

not that it matters what he chose in the end, because neither of them pay much attention to the movie, choosing to focus on each other instead.

***

jaehwan manages to ask minhyun out at the start of the new school year, much to the relief to the rest of them, though yeonjung is dismayed at the loss of 50,000 won.

“i’m proud of you, hyung,” jihoon congratulates jaehwan when the two of them go out for drinks. seongwoo is stuck at a department meeting while minhyun had something come up at home, so it’s just the two of them that night. “i knew you had it in you.”

“thanks, jihoon.” jaehwan rolls his eyes jokingly. “thank you for having faith in me unlike yeonjung-ssaem.”

“can you blame her?” jihoon smirks. “we watched you pine after minhyun-ssaem for over three years, after all.”

“oh, hush you,” jaehwan snorts. “like you’re one to talk. do you know how painful it was for the rest of us to watch you avoid seongwoo-ssaem like the plague? the ust between you two was too much to bear sometimes.”

“ust?” jihoon furrows his eyebrows in confusion. “what’s that?”

“unresolved sexual tension, duh.” jaehwan snickers. “get with the times, old man.”

“you’re three years older than me!” jihoon protests. “also, what do you mean we had unresolved sexual tension, huh? i didn’t even know seongwoo that well back then!”

“well, it’s definitely resolved now.” jaehwan smirks when jihoon turns bright red. “ah, jihoonie, you make it so easy sometimes.”

“you suck, hyung,” jihoon sulks. “why do i even put up with you?”

“don’t lie to yourself, jihoon-ah,” jaehwan sing songs. he clinks his wine glass against jihoon’s own. “you know you love me.”

“that’s debatable,” jihoon mutters under his breath but gives jaehwan a bright smile. “i’m happy for you, hyung.”

jaehwan reaches over to pat jihoon’s cheek affectionately. “thanks, jihoon. now, enough about us, though i think i can talk about minhyun for days. let’s talk about you and seongwoo; you never _did_ give me any details…”

***

their one-year anniversary is coming up and jihoon is in mild panic mode. it falls right when final exams are happening, and so neither of them have any time to spare with preparing for exams and finishing up progress reports. jihoon has it easier compared to seongwoo, though, seeing how seongwoo is teaching third year math and has the csat to worry about as well.

they decide to let it pass by without anything fancy, but jihoon still wants to do something for seongwoo, who’s been working so hard for the past few weeks.

he takes advice from jaehwan, who suggests jihoon take seongwoo somewhere to relax once exams finish and summer vacation starts.

once exams are finished and school is officially out for the summer, seongwoo and jihoon leave the city for a short getaway at the beach. seongwoo is pleasantly surprised to find out that jihoon had already taken care of everything, from transportation to where they were staying.

“why didn’t you ask me for help? i can plan vacations too, you know,” seongwoo pouts at him as they make their way to the small pension jihoon rented for the two of them.

“i wanted to surprise you,” jihoon shrugs. “you seemed so stressed these past few weeks. think of this as a little reward for making it through hell season alive.”

seongwoo groans and hugs jihoon as tight as his arms allow him to. “what did i do in my past life to deserve you?”

jihoon laughs and returns the hug just as enthusiastically. “you probably saved a country in your past life or something,” jihoon jokes and pulls back to beam at seongwoo. “come on, i want to test out the bed.”

seongwoo’s eyes twinkle and he trails after jihoon like a lost puppy. “yeah? test out the bed for what?”

jihoon looks behind him with a coy smirk. “i don’t know, seongwoo. do you want to find out?”

“yes,” seongwoo says immediately and jihoon’s smirk widens.

“well then, what are you waiting for?” jihoon throws one last grin at his boyfriend before disappearing into the bedroom, with seongwoo following close behind him.

***

“this is nice,” seongwoo comments. they’re out on the terrace watching the sunset as they sip on wine. jihoon’s sitting on seongwoo’s lap, snuggled against him, and he feels his eyes start drooping in fatigue. “tired, love?”

“a bit,” jihoon murmurs. he lays his head to rest on seongwoo’s shoulder. “my body’s finally starting to relax after all those exams and papers to grade.”

“same here,” seongwoo sighs in content at the feeling of jihoon being in his arms. “thank you for this, really.”

jihoon smiles and closes his eyes. “you don’t have to thank me, seongwoo. you deserve it.”

seongwoo doesn’t respond and chooses to bury his face into jihoon’s hair instead. jihoon knows he’s probably getting emotional and wants to hide it from jihoon. seongwoo is a little dumb like that, jihoon thinks fondly, but jihoon still loves him all the same.

“i love you,” seongwoo mumbles, his face still buried in jihoon’s hair.

“i love you too.”

the two of them stay like that for a bit longer, enjoying the warmth and each other’s presence.

***

it’s their second-to-last day at the beach and jihoon never wants to leave. “can we just move here?”

“you and i both know you’re a city man through and through,” seongwoo gives him a look. “i’d give it a month of living here before you go crazy and demand we move back to seoul.”

jihoon pouts but he knows seongwoo is right; he probably wouldn’t even last a month before packing up and going back to seoul. seongwoo smirks when he sees the pout on jihoon’s face and holds out his hand with his palm facing upwards, offering jihoon his hand to hold. it works like a charm and jihoon takes seongwoo’s hand happily, wrapping his other hand around seongwoo’s arm.

they’re strolling through the plaza that’s near the beach. it’s clearly for tourists, and they entertain themselves by having a competition on who can find the weirdest, wildest souvenirs for their friends and colleagues back home.

it’s too hot for them to stay outside for too long and so they make their way to a nearby café after walking around for an hour. jihoon goes to look for somewhere to sit while seongwoo gets their drinks.

“what did you get us?” jihoon eyes the colorful drinks in seongwoo’s hands curiously and takes one with a grateful smile. “looks dangerous.”

“it’s supposed to be their special.” seongwoo sips his own drink and makes a noise of appreciation. “wow. it’s pretty good.”

jihoon tries his and makes a noise of surprise. “what’s in this? i can taste pineapple, mango, and something else?”

“yours has peaches,” seongwoo says. “i asked for oranges in mine.”

jihoon makes grabby hands at seongwoo’s drink, who snorts and hands it to him while reaching for jihoon’s. “oh, this is good too. why didn’t we come here earlier?” jihoon asks as they switch drinks again.

“pity they don’t have things like this back in seoul.” seongwoo sighs. “well, they do, but it’s not as fresh.”

“i told you we should just move here,” jihoon grumbles and seongwoo flicks his forehead.

“quiet, you brat.”

***

seongwoo forces jihoon to go stroll around town by himself while he gets something ready at the pension.

“you said this was my reward for making it through hell season,” seongwoo tells him as he kicks jihoon out after lunch. “well, it’s my turn. go entertain yourself somehow and come back for dinner! love you!”

jihoon pouts but lets seongwoo have his way. he spends the next few hours trying out the local eateries they didn’t get a chance to try and looking around an art museum. he loses track of time and doesn’t realize it’s almost time for dinner until seongwoo calls him, asking where he is.

when jihoon gets back to the pension, he frowns at how quiet it is. none of the lights are on when he walks in and he finds himself starting to get wary.

“hello? seongwoo?” jihoon calls out, but no one answers. he frowns and takes out his phone, only to find a text from his boyfriend telling him to go out to the terrace.

he makes his way to the terrace and gasps when he sees what seongwoo has set up. there are fairy lights streaming down from the ceiling and candles lit up on the table, where their dinner is also set up.

“do you like it?” seongwoo asks from behind and pulls jihoon in for a back hug, resting his chin on jihoon’s right shoulder. “i thought it would be nice to end our vacation with something different.”

jihoon takes in the sight and a smile makes its way onto his face. “seongwoo, this is beautiful. how did you manage to do all this in one afternoon?”

“talent,” seongwoo says with a grin. jihoon turns his head and slightly cranes his neck up, and seongwoo meets him halfway. they kiss for a few seconds before seongwoo pulls away. “dinner’s going to get cold. come on, i made your favorite.”

“you made it?” jihoon is skeptical as he eyes the steak that’s sitting on the plate. “is it safe to eat?” he jokes.

“okay, i didn’t make it,” seongwoo admits reluctantly. “i had it catered from that steak place we ate on our second day here.”

jihoon smirks. “ah, makes more sense.”

seongwoo pouts as he pulls out the chair for jihoon. “don’t be cheeky. everything else was done personally by yours truly.”

“thank you.” jihoon’s eyes are warm and his heart feels so unbelievably fond.

“of course.” seongwoo smiles at him. “you deserve this and so much more.”

after dinner comes dessert, much to jihoon’s delight. “this is literally just your favorite ice cream served in a fancy cup,” seongwoo snickers as he brings out the dessert. “i figured you would appreciate this more than some fancy bite-sized pastry that doesn’t taste as good.”

seongwoo is right, as always, jihoon thinks as he eats his ice cream blissfully. he’s always appreciated the simpler things in life, and he’s lucky that seongwoo is the same.

“this is certainly a nice way to end our stay,” jihoon sighs happily. he sets his finished ice cream on the table and rests his chin on his hands, watching the waves. “i’ll miss it here.”

“but you’re ready to go back to the city, right?” seongwoo gets up and moves to sit next to jihoon. “there’s one more thing, though.”

jihoon looks to his side and eyes seongwoo curiously. “oh? what is it?”

seongwoo’s eyes dart around anxiously, looking at everything _but_ jihoon. “okay, just hear me out, okay?”

“okay,” jihoon says, giving seongwoo a weird look. “what did you do this time?”

“i didn’t do anything, jeez,” seongwoo grumbles. he stands up and gets down on one knee in front of jihoon, who freezes.

“what are you doing?” he stutters out. seongwoo looks up at him with the most tender expression jihoon’s ever seen on someone and something inside of him melts.

“park jihoon,” seongwoo starts. “i know we’ve only been dating for a year, but, god, this past year has been the best year of my life. waking up next to you everyday is a blessing i still can’t believe i have the honor of having, and it would be my greatest joy if i could wake up next to you for the rest of our lives.”

seongwoo takes one of jihoon’s hands in his before continuing, his voice softer. “park jihoon, i love you. i love you  _so_ much, and i want to show you every day just how much i love you—if you’d let me, of course.”

jihoon feels the tears running down his cheeks as he stares at seongwoo, who’s smiling gently up at him.

“park jihoon,” seongwoo whispers. he takes out a little black box and opens it, revealing the ring inside. “will you marry me?”

“i—” jihoon swallows, trying to find his voice through the tears. “god, seongwoo, _yes_.” he throws himself into seongwoo’s arms, who catches him with a grunt as the two of them go tumbling down onto the ground. jihoon sniffles and wraps his arms around seongwoo’s neck.

“thank god,” seongwoo lets out a sharp exhale. he sits up and strokes jihoon’s cheek with his free hand and wipes away the tears. taking jihoon’s left hand in his, seongwoo slips the ring onto jihoon’s finger and seals it with a kiss. when he peeks up at jihoon through his lashes, jihoon sees that seongwoo is starting to get a little teary too.

“did you think i was going to say no or something?” jihoon sniffs when seongwoo kisses the tears away. “you’re stupid, seongwoo.”

“i just proposed to you and you call me stupid,” seongwoo remarks. “this is peak romance right here. shakespeare would be proud.”

“shakespeare mainly wrote tragedies, you absolute moron.” jihoon can’t stop crying and seongwoo chuckles and leans in for a kiss.

when they part, seongwoo brings his hand up again to caress jihoon’s cheek. “thank you, park jihoon,” he says quietly, “for allowing me to love you.”

jihoon leans into the touch and closes his eyes. “thank you, ong seongwoo, for loving me.”

 

 

_fin._

**Author's Note:**

> -maejeom is a school store where they sell like snacks and other instant food  
> -matjip is like,, a restaurant with tasty food..? idk how to explain it but its not like those famous restaurants but rather one that gets known thru word of mouth/sns/food blogs
> 
> this took me two weeks to write wow it was going to be like a maybe ~4k word oneshot but here we are, 33 pages and 15926 words later  
> i'll come back and edit this later,,, probably
> 
> if you have any questions feel free to send me an ask on my cc or twitter!! 
> 
> hope you enjoyed :')))))
> 
>  
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/iridescent__ong) | [curious cat](https://curiouscat.me/iridescent__ong)


End file.
